“There is always one winner. All the rest are losers. Anything but first place is the same for me.”

In a simple, closing sentence, Vincent Kompany has nailed Manchester City’s colours to the Champions League mast in Munich.

The Blues face German champions Bayern Munich in an excruciatingly tough Group E opener in the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night, but Kompany made it plain they are not daunted.

And he said talk of getting out of the group and exceeding last season’s march to the last 16, or even getting to the last four, is irrelevant to him.

City are in it to win it, and Kompany says targeting anything less than that is unacceptable for a team that Bayern boss Pep Guardiola now lists among the elite.

“You start a season at City nowadays and it’s not acceptable not to put all the trophies on your ambitions list,” said Kompany.

“It’s a case of me and all the players looking at all the trophies and thinking we have to go until the very end of the season.

“The club is asking us to win now so that’s one thing. In which order you can’t say. We have won so far in the last four years, we have been successful, but you always want to take it a step further.

“Let’s take it in context – we are not favourites by any means for this competition but we would like to compete and challenge.

“Before we won the league it was more difficult to believe we could do it than with the Champions League.

“My experience of the Champions League is that it’s not more difficult to go to the end but everything has to be perfect. The Premier League is just a ferocious battle to the end. Eventually it will happen our way.

“The beauty of every season is you can start again. There is always a sign of us growing stronger. That’s all you can ask for in football.

“No team can expect a guarantee of going to the final. Only Real Madrid won last year and all the rest looked lost, like we did. The margins are very small.”

City head into the clash knowing that their last visit, in December last year, saw them field a weakened side and yet still come from two goals down to beat a strong Bayern side.

That victory ultimately meant nothing in terms of the Champions League, as City could not bag the extra goal that would have displaced the Germans from top spot in the group and they went out to Barcelona in the last 16.

But Kompany feels it had a profound effect on the Blues’ season – straight after it, they blitzed Arsenal 6-3 and went on a run of eight straight Premier League wins and a run to the Capital One Cup final.

And, after having a ropey away record at the start of the season, they did not lose another domestic game on their travels until the unlucky loss at Anfield in April.

“I actually reckon it meant a lot,” said Kompany. “We were just one goal away from topping the group. It was an important game to win, it give us more belief. “You have to remember that at the time we were not really performing well away from home. We went from struggling away from home to being the best club away from the Etihad all season.”

In terms of their line-up, City will miss Fernando, who was key to the plan of Manuel Pellegrini – who himself is banned from the touchline after his comments about referee Jonas Eriksson last season.

But they are likely to stick by the five-man midfield that helped them reverse their 3-1 loss at the Etihad Stadium season.

Kompany hinted as much, saying: “Our system has changed since two years ago, when we played Bayern.

“It was not clear how we wanted to play because everything was new for us then but we saw that we were better and worked better in the second game.

“We hope to play in a positive way and get the points, but it’s going to be difficult.”

Bayern coach Pep Guardiola had earlier talked City up as one of the potential winners of the Champions League, but then damned them with faint praise by declaring they were one of eight to 10 teams who could lift the trophy in Berlin on June 6.

That brought a chuckle from Kompany. “He’s taking a massive risk isn’t he!” said the skipper.

“We know how much damage it can cause your hopes if you don’t win the group. We always face difficult teams if we are not seeded but we were very close last year. We are very excited but we believe in our ability as well.”

After two visits in three seasons, Kompany says going to Bayern no longer holds any surprises.

“It’s a place we’ve become familiar with,” he said. “Every single time you come here is an opportunity to prove yourself.”